Nightmare Plagues
by Stark'sgirl7
Summary: My take on the Iron Man 3 nightmare scene. What happens after Pepper leave? What does Tony do? IM3 SPOILERS. My first fic. Please give it a chance and review!


CALL FAILED. The image in Tony's mind disrupted his sleep. He was falling, falling from the big hole in the sky. He could just make out the final words on his hub as his eyes slowly closed. CALL FAILED. He was gaining speed, falling faster and faster.

Pepper awoke to a small whimper next to stirred in his sleep, every now and then gripping tight to his pillow. His body was tense, his breathing ragged. She shook his shoulder trying to wake him, however she only got back another whimper. She started to shake him harder, yelling his name, "Tony!"

Tony let out a loud cry in response to Pepper's shaking. However, pepper did not stop. She knew she needed to wake him up before his nightmare became even worse. Suddenly, Pepper was ripped back. She laid there, terrified, looking at the suit Tony had been controlling before when she got home. The arc of the armor lit up Pepper's scared face. She was restrained, her wrists in pain as the suit held her against the bed.

Tony awoke to Pepper's plead. He responded quickly and disassembled the suit. "Power Down," yelled Tony. With one solid hit, the suit shattered into separate pieces.

"I must of called it in my sleep. Thats not suppose to happen. I'll recalibrate the sensors. Please don't leave... Just let me catch my breath.. can we..."

"I'm going to sleep downstairs, tinker with that."

And just like that Pepper was gone. This has become too much for Tony. His breathing did not slow down. His mind was still trying to process what had just happened. 'Pepper left you. Just when everything seem okay, your nightmares had to screw it up again. Its your own fault. Maybe if you were smart enough you would have doubled check the sensors in the first place, but no. You let your big, dumb ego tell you there was nothing wrong with the suit and now Pepper is gone when you need her the most. Way to go genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.'

Pepper felt a little guilty for leaving Tony all alone like that. She realizes he needs her, but how was she suppose to react? His suits have become a distraction. She feels like spending the night away from Tony is the best way to deal with this situation and in the morning she will make sure he is okay. With that, Pepper went back to bed and fell asleep ten minutes later.

Tony could not go back to bed. He was too worried and scared to fall back asleep. Instead, Tony got that same drive to build that he always got. He went down to his workshop to recalibrate the sensors of the Mark 42 suit and get his mind off the wormhole and chitauri aliens once again.

Pepper was startled awake by a loud BANG! She got up and rubbed her eyes. BANG CLATTER CLASH! 'Where is all that noise coming from?' she thought. Pepper walked down the hall and the sounds began to gradually get louder. As she neared the staircase that lead to the workshop, Pepper could hear Tony cursing and yelling. She started walking down the stairs, but stop at the sight of glass that covered the stairs. Slowly, Pepper lifted her head and saw Tony throwing his tools around the workshop. He was flinging parts of the suit around, destroying parts of the workshop. Pepper quickly ran to his side.

"Tony! Tony honey you have to stop this." Pepper grabbed his arm before he could fling his wrench across the room at his computer. He fought her, but eventually gave up as he became weaker, subsiding to his anxiety. Pepper took the wrench and set it on the table. She could see water building up in his beautiful brown orbs as he broke down and fell to his knees.

"I couldn't... I went to fix the... sensors but..." His words were drowned out by a small whimper that escaped his lips. "I messed up the coding. Now I have to redo it, but it won't finish loading up into the suit until two days from now."

His voice was raspy and his breathing ragged. Pepper stroke his hair and pulled him closer to her body. "How am I suppose to protect you, if my own armor is going to kill you in my sleep?" He looked up at her, tears swelling in his eyes now.

"Tony... honey, your armor is not going to kill me. It happened tonight and thats it. I don't think it will happen again now that you know it could happen." She was unsure of this, but she needed to comfort him and keep him grounded. "I won't leave you and I will try my best to keep your nightmares away. I love you and I won't let anything happen to you and I sure as hell won't let your damn suit take me away from you." Pepper let out a small smirk as she looked back down at Tony.

Tony's breathing was beginning to slow down. He still seemed uneasy, but Pepper was relieved that he calmed down. She quickly stood him up and guided them back to their bedroom, leaving the workshop a shattered mess.

Tony laid his head down on Pepper's shoulder. As soon as her grip tightened around him, he felt safe. However, he did not want to fall back asleep fearful of another nightmare breaking into his mind. Instead, he took comfort in Pepper's hold and laid there eyes wide opened.

After a while, Pepper realized that Tony was forcing himself to stay awake. She began to stroke his hair. She kissed the top of his head and whispered "It's okay Tony, go to sleep. You need rest, I'm right here."

After a few minutes of Pepper's soothing voice, Tony drifted off into a deep sleep.

The images were back. His suit was failing, the chitauri were falling, he was falling.

Tony flailed in his sleep again. He was breathing fast and sweating. This time instead of yelling his name, Pepper talked to him.

"Shhh I'm here Tony. You're here with me in Malibu. You aren't in New York anymore, you're safe with me. Come on honey wake up." She touched his arm lightly and kissed his forehead. At this action, Tony's eyes flung open. He sat up and placed his hands to his face. Pepper rubbed his back comforting. Tony's heart was racing fast. He was shaking hard. Pepper quickly took him into a full embrace.

She waited him out. She rubbed circles on his back and held his hand with her free hand all while comforting him with her soothing words that seemed to calm him down.

Eventually, Tony had begun to breath normally again and fell back asleep in Pepper's arms. She decided that no matter how many times he awoke, she would always be would never leave him again when he needed her the most.

Pepper watched Tony's chest rise and fall. She saw the dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep these past few days, but she also saw that he was at piece at the moment. Quietly, Pepper kissed his cheek.

"I will always love you Tony Stark and no matter how many crazy shenanigans you bring me into, I will never leave your side."

and with that, Tony slept through the rest of the night without another nightmare plaguing his peace of mind and security.


End file.
